Don't Question Life's Gifts
by SpookyDJ
Summary: Pidge and Hunk discover that Pokemon Go works in the Castle of Lions, for whatever reason, and proceed to catch Pokemon all day.
1. this chapter doesn't have a title

**Based loosely off of some otp pokemon go prompt I saw on twitter. Instead of playing it straight up, I decided to do it platonically for the best crackship in the series, Pidge and Hunk. Platonically. Because I'm not super into writing romantic things.**

 **Don't ask why they have Pokemon Go, don't ask why it works in the castle, I have no idea, just don't question life's gifts, man.**

 **Considered throwing this in the Pokemon category as a crossover but I don't think I'd throw it in the Brain Age category if they were playing Brain Age, or any other equivalent. If the Pokemon were real, yeah, but they're just playing the game, so it doesn't quite sit right with me. Maybe I'm wrong. But whatever man.**

 **Didn't really try too hard with this I wrote it in like, an hour or two lmao it's so short**

* * *

Pidge was awoken by the door to her room opening. She was still exhausted, and almost felt a little sick from how little she'd slept. There was no way it was time to wake up yet. So what was going on? Who was in here?

Was this a Galra attack? Or some other kind of enemy invasion? It was hard to tell. The room was still dark, she couldn't see anything or anyone else that was in there. But she'd rather be safe than sorry.

Trying not to make a sound, she grabbed her bayard and activated it, ready to fight. She quietly rolled herself out of bed. Then, jumping, up, she faced a random direction and held up her bayard, ready to strike. Hopefully she was facing whoever or whatever came in here. Otherwise, that could be pretty awkward.

"Who's there?!" she demanded.

"Whoa whoa Pidge whoa calm down I'm sorry whoa whoa." The lights flickered on. Hunk was standing in front of her, holding his hands up in defeat. He was holding his cell phone in one of his hands. "I'm really sorry it won't happen again just please don't attack me."

"...Hunk?" Pidge frowned, standing down. "What are you doing _here_ , in _my_ room, at..." She glanced down at her own phone, checking the time. "... _3 AM_?" She glared at him.

Hunk laughed nervously. "I feel really bad about coming in here, and I _definitely_ didn't want to wake you up, but I have a good reason, I swear."

"I'm listening." Pidge crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, you see, I couldn't sleep and I was really bored," Hunk said. "So I figured, there's no way it's actually gonna work, right? We're in space, nowhere near the Earth. But since I didn't have anything better to do..."

"Get to the point, Hunk," Pidge told him.

"Right." Hunk laughed again. "The point is, I wanted to see if Pokemon Go would work on the castle, and long story short, there's an Eevee in your room."

Pidge sighed, rolling her eyes. "If you're going to make something up, you can do better than that."

"No, really, it's true!" Hunk insisted. He pointed his phone towards her, showing her the screen. "I don't get it, but it totally works here. And see? There's an Eevee right here."

She leaned forward, studying the screen. "...You're right," she conceded. "But how? Pokemon Go's supposed to use your location to determine where you are and what Pokemon you find. That's just for Earth, it shouldn't be working in space at all."

Hunk grabbed her by the shoulders. "Don't question it, Pidge. Don't question life's gifts."

"Well, then." Pidge grabbed her phone and opened up her own Pokemon Go app. She flashed him a grin. "Let's go look for Pokemon."

* * *

"Has anyone seen Pidge and Hunk?" Keith asked, leaning against the wall of the training deck. "We were supposed to start training an hour ago."

"No, I haven't." Shiro looked over towards the door. "I hope they're okay."

"Oh, I'm sure they're fine," Lance assured them. "They're probably just holed up somewhere, working on some weird science-y thing, and they lost track of time. You know how those two are."

"You're probably right," Shiro conceded. "But still..."

He didn't have a chance to finish that sentence. The door opened, and Hunk and Pidge ran in, staring at their phones.

"Come on, Hunk! Just a little farther," Pidge told him. "We gotta get that Bulbasaur!"

"Can't we stop for a snack break first?" Hunk asked, trailing just behind her.

"There's no time! We gotta hurry!"

Shiro, Keith, and Lance watched them run from one side of the training deck to the other, running out a door on the other side.

"...What are they doing?" Shiro asked.

"I think they're playing Pokemon Go." Keith groaned. "I can't believe this."

"Wait, Pokemon Go, seriously?" Lance pulled out his phone, opening up the app store as fast as he could. "I had no idea it still worked in the castle. Hey, guys, wait for me!" He hurried after the two.

Keith sighed, dragging himself down the wall until he was sitting. "I guess we're _not_ training today, then."

* * *

"Check it out, Pidge!" Hunk grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her and showed her his phone. "I think there's an Abra in the Green Lion."

"Seriously?" Pidge grinned. "Come on, then! We have to catch it!"

They ran off just as Lance started to catch up. He stopped, trying to catch his breath. " Come on, guys, wait for me..." He checked his phone. Pokemon Go wasn't even halfway done downloading yet. "I always have the worst luck with the castle's internet..."

* * *

"There's a Snorlax in the kitchen!" Pidge announced.

Hunk sighed with relief. "Finally, we can get some lunch, too."

"Pokemon now, lunch later!" She told him.

* * *

Eventually, Lance did catch up with Pidge and Hunk. Unfortunately, this was only because they'd fallen asleep. They'd been looking for Pokemon since Hunk had woken Pidge up at 3 AM, and both had finally run out of juice. Lance groaned.

"Guys, seriously?" He asked. "I can't even look for Pokemon without you yet..." He looked sadly at his phone. Pokemon Go still hadn't finished downloading.

* * *

"Coran!" Hunk shouted.

"Coran!" Pidge screamed.

"Coran!" they yelled at the same time.

Coran, who was currently piloting the ship, turned to look at them. He was about to ask them what they wanted, but they didn't give him a chance.

"Coran, you have to turn the ship around," Hunk told him.

"And why should I do that?" Coran asked.

" _Deoxys_ is back there, Coran!" Pidge told him. "It could be the only one in the whole universe! We _have_ to catch it!"

"Deoxys?" Lance yelled from a room away. "Are you kidding me?"

* * *

 **"[riding a bike] [falls over] [rolls around] fuckign voltron,.docx"**


	2. why do chapter titles have to be so shor

**me: okay i am done thinking about voltron and pokemon go, it is over**

 **brain: what about pokestops? pokemon gyms? teams?**

 **me: oh no**

 **Whoa, I didn't expect anyone to read this...I didn't expect anything at all! Thank you all so much! You're all really really nice.**

 **I can't really write anything serious right now, my hands hurt too much to write anything long, and I had some more ideas, so here's some bonus content, I guess. I know a lot more about Pokemon Go now than I did before. I have little experience with the game itself. I live in the middle of nowhere, no Pokemon show up within walking distance, let alone gyms and pokestops, so I've only been able to do anything the one time I went to the mall. But information has been circulating, and I've learned a lot. I'm more prepared to play myself, and it's easier to think of other shenanigans Team Voltron's been up to.**

 **if you're looking for it, this might have some minor implications of sheith, klance, and hunk/pidge. or not. whatever you prefer. i cannot write shiro or keith to save my life. i put the same or even less effort into this as before, so don't expect this chapter to be any better lol"So...what exactly is 'Pokemon Go', anyway?" Shiro asked.**

* * *

The other Voltron pilots around him, besides Keith, gasped.

"How do you not know what Pokemon Go is?" Lance demanded. "It's only, like the greatest invention of all time!"

Keith rolled his eyes. "Give him a break, guys. He spent a long time in space, he wasn't even on Earth when Pokemon Go came out. I don't think there's any way he _could_ know what it is."

"That makes sense," Hunk agreed at the same time that Pidge muttered, "He has a point."

"Fine, whatever." Lance looked pointedly away from Keith and crossed his arms. "It doesn't matter. We'll just have to explain it to him." He glanced over at Shiro. "Okay. First of all, do you know what Pokemon is?"

"Of course I do, are you kidding? I grew up with Pokemon," Shiro said.

Lance blinked. "Wait. Really?"

Shiro laughed. "Playing Pokemon was one of the first things I remember. I started out with Bulbasaur." There was a faraway look in his eyes suddenly as he started reminiscing. "I love that little guy. We went all the way to the League together."

"Right..." Lance scratched the back of his head. "So, basically, Pokemon Go is..."

"Pokemon Go is the best thing ever!" Pidge interrupted as she jumped in front of Lance. "You play it on your phone, and it uses your location to let you find and catch Pokemon in the real world! And there's real life gyms, where you can put your Pokemon to the test, and you can evolve your Pokemon, and there's these things called Pokestops where you can get more Poke Balls! And somehow, it still works out in space!" Somehow, she said all this in one breath. She was really excited about Pokemon.

"Yeah." Lance shoved Pidge out of the way. "So basically, you can catch Pokemon on the real world, on your phone."

A tear fell out of the corner of Shiro's eye.

"Shiro, are you okay?" Hunk asked him.

"This is what I dreamed about when I was a kid," Shiro said. "It's a dream come true." He wiped his eyes with his hand and laughed again. "Of course, I ended up going into space instead, and eventually became a pilot for the most powerful weapon in the universe, but, well..."

The other four paladins just stared at him.

"So, anyway." Shiro pulled out his phone, a small flip phone that was lucky to have a free demo of Tetris on it, and definitely couldn't handle any apps or games. "Does it work on this? Or is my phone too old?"

"Uh...we'll work something out," Hunk told him.

* * *

"So everyone's level five now, right?" Hunk asked.

"Everyone except Keith," Lance told him. "Keith hates fun and stuff like that."

"What are you talking about?" Keith frowned. "Of course I'm level five, I've been there for a couple of days now."

"Wait." Lance frowned. "You're actually playing?"

Keith shrugged. "You're all playing it. I don't really have much else better to do."

"So we're all level five," Hunk reiterated, hoping to defuse the situation. "Which means we all have to pick teams, right? So what team is everyone joining?"

"I'm joining Valor," Keith said immediately.

"Well, I'm joining Mystic!" Lance retorted.

"I've already been on Instinct for awhile," Pidge said.

"Hey, me too!" Hunk and Pidge grinned at each other.

"I think I'm joining Valor, too..." Shiro muttered.

They all looked at each other.

"So what, I'm all alone here?" Lance asked. "The other teams each get two Paladins, but we're only stuck with one?"

"Lance, it's not really a big deal..." Pidge told him.

"Of course it is! The teams get to take on each other's gyms, and people from the same team help each other! I don't have anyone to help me to defeat your gyms, and if I manage to control a gym, no one's here to help me to defend it!" Lance shot back.

"We don't even know if there are any gyms here yet. No one's found any on the castle," Keith reminded him.

"Well...well..." Lance struggled to argue with that, but finding nothing to respond with, shut his mouth.

"Oh, alright."

The five paladins turned to see Princess Allura approaching them.

"If it's really that important to you all, I'll start playing this 'Pokeman Go', and when I get to level 5, I'll join Lance's team to make it even. Does that work for you all?" she asked.

Shiro, Pidge, Keith, and Hunk all nodded. Lance was a little more enthusiastic.

"I know what you're really after." Lance slowly slinked an arm around Allura's shoulders. "It's just you an me alone on a team in space. This is just your way of-"

Before he could say another word, she interrupted him with a slap to the face and walked away. "I am not interested," she reminded him sharply.

"Right..." Lance muttered, rubbing his face where he got hit.

* * *

"Guys, I found a Pokestop!" Lance announced.

The five paladins had split up to look for Pokemon, but they all quickly gathered around Lance at the mention of a Pokestop.

"Is it here?" Shiro asked.

Lance nodded, showing them his phone. "Right next to the bathroom...who knew."

"Huh." Pidge checked his phone and looked at the Pokestop. "'The Castle of Lions. sorry guys it's not actually made of lions'. Well, at least it's a Pokestop."

"Phew, finally." Hunk sighed with relief. "I was almost out of Poke Balls."

* * *

Leaving the Pokemon Go app open but going back to her home screen, Pidge dialed Hunk's number and called him. When he picked up, she kept her voice low. "Hunk, I found a gym."

"Wait, really?" came Hunk's louder reply. He sounded surprised.

"Yes, really. Keep your voice down, I don't want the other to find it yet," Pidge explained. "We're going to claim it first."

"Alright." Now Hunk's voice was barely audible, which was perfect. "Your Pokemon are stronger, right? You can claim it and be gym leader while I head over, and I'll put one of my Pokemon in to help defend it."

"Good plan." Pidge smiled. "You know the room where we were keeping Sendak? It's down here."

"I'm on my way now," Hunk told she. "I'm close by already, it shouldn't be too long."

Pidge nodded, and the two hung up. Happily, she went back to the idle Pokemon Go app and prepared to take the gym. But by the time the game loaded, the gym was no longer unclaimed. It had been taken over by Team Mystic.

She scowled, looking up. On the other side of the room, Lance was smirking at her. As their eyes met, he waved, phone in hand.

"Sorry, Pidge, you were too slow," he said. "You should've claimed the gym before calling Hunk for backup, because now its mine."

She readied a retort, but Hunk entered the room before she could say anything. He ran over to her.

"You got the gym, right?" he asked.

"New plan, Hunk." Pidge said through gritted teeth. "Lance claimed the gym first."

"Oh, it's on." Hunk grinned. "We're not leaving this spot until we beat him and take it for ourselves. Not even for food. It'll be difficult, but we can do it."

* * *

In a different part of the castle, Keith and Shiro had found a different gym. They both put different Pokemon in, claiming the gym for Team Valor, and waited.

"Should we tell them we found a gym?" Keith asked.

"Probably, but..." Shiro trailed off, eyes sweeping the area. "They don't seem to be around. We should probably wait."

Keith sighed. "Where is everyone, anyway?"

* * *

"Sorry, guys," Lance gloated. "Your Pokemon just don't stand a chance against my Vaporeon."

"There's no way it should be that strong..." Hunk frowned, examining its CP.

"Come on, Venemoth!" Pidge told her game. "You should be able to take that thing, no problem!"

* * *

 **"shiro is a teenager and you can't tell me he didn't grow up with pokemon but he was in space for awhile and missed out on a lot of pokemon stuff including pokemon "**


End file.
